.png) First edition cover (Hungary) | |
| Author | László Krasznahorkai |
|---|---|
| Original title | Az ellenállás melankóliája |
| Translator | George Szirtes |
| Language | Hungarian |
| Publisher | Magvető |
Publication date | 1989 |
| Publication place | Hungary |
Published in English | 2000 |
| Pages | 385 |
| ISBN | 9788009000689 |
The Melancholy of Resistance (Hungarian: Az ellenállás melankóliája) is a 1989 novel by the Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai. The narrative is set in a restless town where a mysterious circus, which exhibits a whale and nothing else, contributes to an apocalyptic atmosphere. Krasznahorkai adapted the novel into a screenplay for the 2000 film Werckmeister Harmonies, directed by Béla Tarr.[1]
Written at a time when the Eastern Bloc was undergoing major social unrest, the book is a political allegory. A train bringing an outside force of rabble rousers, led by a mysterious Prince, can be construed as a figure for a totalitarian ideology being pushed on Hungary from the outside. Likewise the villainous Mrs. Eszter, who controls the town under the auspices of fighting off the mysterious combatants, can herself be read in terms of a critique of totalitarian ideology.
- ^ Elley, Derek (2000-06-04). "Werckmeister Harmonies". Variety. Retrieved 2012-03-20.